Improvement in can-openers



J.-G. WIGGINS Can-Opener.

No, 211,073. Patented Dec. 17,1878.

WITNESSES ATTORNEY ETERs. moroumocmpnzn, msnmmon. n c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JEFFERSON G. WIGGINS, OF SENECA FALLS, NEXV YORK.

lMPROVEMENT IN CAN-OPENERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 211,073, dated December 17, 1878; application filed November 20, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, JEFFERSON G. \VIG- GINS, of Seneca Falls, in the county of Seneca and State of New York, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in Gan-Openers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference bein g had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figure l of the drawings is a representation of a perspective view of a can with my improvement applied. Fig. 2 is a perspective vertical section of the same; and Fig. 3 is a view of the under side of the lid, the can being in section.

This invention has relation to improvements in devices for opening fruit, paint, and other cans, wherein a wire running around the outer edge of the inside of the cover, secured at one end thereto, and projecting through the same at the other, is used for cutting the tin and separating the cover from the body of the can.

The nature of the invention consists in the construction and novel arrangement of a can provided with a circular guide ring or plate soldered to the lid of said can, and having its edge bent downward to form a guide and holding-channel, and a depressingwire secured at one end to said lid, extending around the guide-plate in the channel thereof, and projecting by its other end through said lid, as hereinafter shown and described.

In the annexed drawings, the letter A designates an ordinary tin can, and 13 its lid, soldered thereto in any suitable manner. Usually a lip, Z), is formed on the edge of the lid, that iits snugly over the upper edge of the canbody, and ai'ibrds a ready means for soldering the lid to the can-body.

0 indicates a wire of suitable dimensions, one end of which is rigidly secured to the under side of the lid near its edge, carried cont pletely around the same, and passed through a perforation in close proximity to its starting,

its projecting end being provided with a handleloop, a.

The cutting-wire is usually attached to the lid at intervals throughout its entire length.

1) indicates an annular tin guide, of slightly less interior diameterthan the lid, which is soldered to the lid and arranged concentrically with reference thereto, so as to form a narrow channel between the perimeter of the guide and the side of the can, as shown at 0, Figs. 2 and 3.

Heretofore it has proved very diiiicult to separate the lid from the can close up against the sides of the latter, for the reason that in the act of cutting the wire would run inward toward the middle of the can, either because of unskillful handling, or because the wire had encountered a thin place in the metal of the top. The effect of this is to leave a flange of greater or less extent and width attached to the walls of a can, which renders the complete removal of lead and zinc paints and other similar viscid substances exceedingly tedious and difiicult. This defect is efteetually obviated by the guidering D, aforesaid, which, by confining the cutting-wire to the channel 0, causes the line of separation of the lid and can-body to be made close up to the sides of the latter.

hat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a can, the circular guide ring or plate D, soldered to the lid B, and having its edge bent downward to form a guide and holdingchannel, and the opening-wire O, secured at one end to said lid, extending around the guide-plate in the channel thereof, and projectin g by its other end through said lid, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

JEFFERSON G. TVIGGINS.

Witnesses:

FRANK WEs'reoT'r, Jnsrnu N. HAMMOND. 

